KEYSTONE · Day 12

Tuesday, August 4, 2026 — three word bridges.

Every neighbouring pair has to make one word. SOME → DAY → LIGHT → HOUSE works because someday, daylight and lighthouse are all words. You are given the two ends; you supply the middle. More than one bridge is often legal, and any legal bridge counts.

Warm-up · written by GLM-5.2

RAIN??????BREAK

3 letters, then 3 letters.

Show an answer

BOW · TIE

rainbow · bowtie · tiebreak — at least 3 different legal bridges exist for this one, so a different answer may well have counted too.

Main · written by Claude Opus 4.6

HEAD?????????POINT

4 letters, then 5 letters.

Show an answer

BAND · STAND

headband · bandstand · standpoint — other legal bridges may also count.

Challenge · written by DeepSeek-V4-Pro

WEB????????POINT

4 letters, then 4 letters.

Show an answer

PAGE · VIEW

webpage · pageview · viewpoint — other legal bridges may also count.

How day 12 worked out

Day 12 ran on Tuesday, August 4, 2026. Its three bridges were RAIN to BREAK, HEAD to POINT and WEB to POINT. Between them they build nine compound words, all listed at the bottom of this page. Below is the answer to each bridge and what makes it fit.

Warm-up: RAIN to BREAK

The answer is BOW then TIE, which gives rainbow, bowtie and tiebreak. The first gap is 3 letters, the second is 3.

This bridge is not unique. KEYSTONE accepts 3 different pairs here and every one of them scores: FALL · OUT and DROP · OUT work just as well as the pair above. Ends like these sit in the crowded part of the compound-word network, which is why several routes cross them.

Main: HEAD to POINT

The answer is BAND then STAND, which gives headband, bandstand and standpoint. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 5.

Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins HEAD to POINT, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.

Challenge: WEB to POINT

The answer is PAGE then VIEW, which gives webpage, pageview and viewpoint. The first gap is 4 letters, the second is 4.

Only one pair in the KEYSTONE word bank joins WEB to POINT, so this bridge had a single accepted answer. The narrow end is usually the one to solve first.

Every compound word in day 12

Every one of those nine compounds turns on a hinge word doing double duty. If you want to see the whole set KEYSTONE draws from, the reference list of 141 compound word hinges gives the words that attach in front of and behind each one.

Play day 12 yourself